Pakistan arrests 17 suspects in connection to the weekend bus shooting that killed 10

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Police in Pakistan arrested at least 17 suspects in the weekend bus shooting that left 10 people dead and 25 others wounded, authorities said Monday.

Security forces raided several areas in the northern Gilgit Baltistan region — where the attack took place — and arrested the men who were currently being questioned, local police chief Shah Wali said.

He added that the death toll from the attack rose to 10 on Monday when one critically injured man died in hospital.

The bus was carrying passengers from Gilgit to the city of Rawalpindi when it was shot at, causing the driver to lose control and crash into a truck, which in turn caught fire. Both drivers were killed on site.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, however, the Pakistani Taliban, also known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, have denied involvement in the shooting in a statement on Sunday.

The TTP is a separate group but allied with the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout from the country. The group has waged an insurgency in Pakistan over the past 15 years.